First Published: 2011
The novel starts in 1919.
Maisie tells us about how her getting pregnant was a turning point in her life. She got together with Arthur Clifton, a very eligible bachelor, who after just a few dates proposed. They were engaged to get married. Once she, Arthur and her brother Stan went to Weston-super-Mare, and the men went to the pub, and she walked along the promenade. A man, whose identity she doesn't reveal, made a pass at her, and she decided to lose her virginity to him. They hired a room and while her fiancée and her brother had a lively time at the pub, she had her first experience. When she told her mother, she told her that she needed to marry Arthur as soon as possible, and if she got pregnant, Arthur wouldn't be any the wider.
In 1920 Harry Clifton, Maisie's child, is a bit of a rascal. He hates school and often goes to the dock where his uncle Stan works. Maisie takes him to school, but the boy just leaves for the docks after his mother goes, and then he makes sure to be at the school when she goes to pick him up. Harry has been told that his father died in the war, but I don't think that is true as the Great War ended in 1918, and Maisie and Arthur got together in 1919. I am curious to know why Harry has been fed that lie.
Harry proves to have a great voice, and his mother takes him to the choir, and Miss Monday tells him that he needs to know how to write and read. Harry is not interested in the choir but when he is told that he will be paid, he is eager to join, but he needs to pass some exams. First, he learns the hyms and psalms he has to know in the first exams, but then he returns to school and applied himself. He is accepted, but he is aware that it is his voice that is exceptional.
This is just the beginning and I'm already hooked.
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